Between the First and Second Modernity 1985 – 2012

Authors: Edith Jeřábková, Jiří Ševčík

This catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition "Islands of Resistance. Between the First and Second Modernity (1985-2012)," which by name already refers to the basic framework of neo-modernisation in the various forms that accompany art and architecture from the beginning of the postmodern turn until today. The designation of the space "between the first and second modernity," which appeared mainly in sociological literature and was introduced by Václav Bělohradský in our play, is very characteristic of the transformation processes within our society. Postmodernism moved freely between traditional and modern features, examined their usability, and filled them only with transient, short-term meanings. This radical and demonstratively proclaimed breakthrough had only several years of duration, but everlasting consequences. Modern forms began to penetrate into postmodernism back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and on the contrary, postmodern ideas and moods persisted throughout the 1990s and can still be seen in a transformed form today. In the visual part of the catalogue, the topic of transformation is conveyed mainly by monitoring the changes of the newly defined exhibition media in the form of the documentation of selected and almost exclusively group exhibitions. Top theoreticians, critics, philosophers, curators, and artists contributed to the catalogue with their own texts and interviews.

Product information

Authors: Edith Jeřábková, Jiří Ševčík
Publisher: Scientific and research workplace of AVU
Language: Czech, English
Year of issue: 2011
Number of pages: 756